EU research and innovation supporting vaccine development for COVID-19
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EU research and innovation
supporting vaccine
development for COVID-19
FEBRUARY 2021
I am proud that EU funding has supported European
companies to develop the new generation of
vaccines, through successive EU research
and innovation programme’s grants, as
well as loans provided via the European
Investment Bank. But we must further
boost investments in technologies and
research infrastructures, and enhance
coordination of European efforts. This will
allow us not only to address the current
crisis rapidly and effectively, but also to better
prepare for future pandemics.
Mariya Gabriel, Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture,
Education and Youth
Enabling research and innovation to quickly address the
COVID 19 outbreak
The European Union reacted immediately to the COVID-19 outbreak with several
research and innovation actions. In all, it pledged to invest €1 billion from
Horizon 2020, the EU programme for research and innovation (2014-2020), under
the Coronavirus Global Response initiative, of which at least €350 million are to
support coronavirus vaccine development. These actions include:
E ME RG ENC Y F UNDING
Amongst 18 new research and innovation projects funded within weeks of
the outbreak through a special emergency call for expressions of interest (total
€48 million), two projects focused on developing safe and effective vaccines:
OPENCORONA and Prevent-nCoV.
T H E E I C AC C ELER ATOR P ILOT
The European Innovation Council (EIC) Accelerator Pilot invested €148 million in
36 companies, highlighting 2 vaccine projects; the RapCo-19 Rapid COVID-19 Passive
Therapy Response Platform and the OSIVAX multi-season influenza vaccine.
Research and
Innovation
THE COALITION FOR EPIDEMIC PREPAREDNESS INNOVATIONS
The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), an
international initiative with European input from its inception, has
Delivering results received a total of €136 million from Horizon 2020, of which
RNA vaccine development is €100 million was awarded to support the rapid development
supported through several Horizon 2020 of COVID-19 vaccines. It combines a strong focus on product
grants. In the EAVI2020 project, BioNTech made development with a competitive element to ensure that only
use of its mRNA technology to develop and the most promising vaccine candidates get support.
manufacture HIV vaccine candidates. Financial
support provided by the EIB helped BioNTech to EIB FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS
use this mRNA technology for the development An additional €400 million in financing from Horizon 2020
of a COVID-19 vaccine candidate. The funding (InnovFin EFSI and Infectious Diseases Finance Facility) was
EC‑mediated advance purchase agreement dedicated to mitigating risks for companies developing interventions
further enabled the manufacturing of the to combat COVID-19. This enabled two European biotech firms
BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine, which was developing promising mRNA vaccines to obtain debt financing
the first to receive marketing agreements: €100 million for BioNTech and €75 million for CureVac.
authorisation in the EU. Both companies are developing mRNA vaccines, which consist of
genetic material, called messenger RNA that provides instructions for
a human cell to make proteins of the virus. The proteins activate the
body’s immune response to combat infection.
On 17 June 2020, the Commission proposed an EU vaccine strategy to accelerate the development, manufacturing, and
deployment of vaccines against COVID-19, where research and innovation can contribute greatly. The EU Strategy for COVID-19
vaccines lays down how the EU and Member States together will accelerate the development and manufacturing of vaccines
against COVID-19. The strategy rests on two pillars: providing financial support to de-risk developers’ investments and adapting
the regulatory framework to the current urgency.
As of January 2021, the Commission has secured agreements with six vaccine developers: AstraZeneca, Sanofi-GSK, Janssen
Pharmaceutica, BioNtech-Pfizer, CureVac, and Moderna. This diversified vaccines portfolio has ensured that Europe is well prepared
for vaccination, now the first vaccines that have been proven to be safe and effective are available, which is already the case for
BioNTech-Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca vaccines that were recently authorised in the EU.
EU investments in next generation vaccines
Research and innovation projects aim to speed up vaccine development,
which usually takes more than 10 years and has a high risk of failure. European projects
(e.g. EAVI2020, EHVA, TBVAC2020, Rabyd-vax) are developing and making use of a wide
range of technologies (DNA, RNA and viral vectors) to expand vaccine candidate pipelines. The
ADITEC and OptiMalVax are among projects developing new immunisation technologies and
taking these forward in clinical trials to make vaccines more effective – also for unmet needs of
the elderly and young.
Building on 20 years of EU investment
in vaccine research and innovation
In addition to the recent COVID-19 funding, over €650 million was already invested
in vaccine research and innovation through Horizon 2020, building on efforts from
previous EU framework programmes.
C OM BAT T I N G I N F E CT I O U S D I SE A S E S
The EU has supported the development and selection of the most promising vaccine
candidates against HIV, TB and malaria as well as in the development of vaccines
against several neglected and emerging infectious diseases. It was at the
forefront for the fast-track development of vaccines against more recent threats
such as Ebola, Zika, and now the coronavirus.
2
VAC C I N E R ES E A R CH S U P P O R T
Vaccine research is supported by Horizon 2020 in various ways: including
collaborative research projects in the Health societal challenge, the Innovative Frontier
Medicines Initiative (IMI), support for research infrastructures, the European Research research
Council (ERC) and European Innovation Council (EIC) and the European & Developing
Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP). Over 180 ERC projects are contributing
to the COVID-19 pandemic response,
RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTURES & NETWORKS including vaccines. For example,
A number of existing platforms or mechanisms at European and international level Vincenzo Cerullo, supported by ERC
are also mobilising efforts to support COVID-19 vaccine research more generally; projects ‘PeptiCRAD’ and ‘PeptiChip’ is
the European Virus Archive, the European Vaccine Research and Development developing new technologies for novel
Infrastructure (TRANSVAC2), European Advanced Translational Infrastructure in (prophylactic and therapeutic) vaccine
Medicine (EATRIS), and European Clinical Research Infrastructure Network (ECRIN). candidates for COVID-19 and making
them commercially available through
TAC KL I N G M IS I N FO RMATI O N A N D VACCI N E UP TAK E spin-off company ValoTherapeutics.
The mass information about the virus, often false or inaccurate, that spreads
quickly over social media creates confusion and distrust and undermines
effective public health response. On 10 June 2020, the Commission published a
Joint Communication analysing the immediate response and proposing concrete
actions. EU-funded COVINFORM project produced a report on information and
misinformation and correcting myths about COVID vaccines. Additionally in 2020,
through a Horizon 2020 call, a topic designed to address low vaccine uptake led to
three new research projects receiving a total of €9.4 million in grants to address
vaccine uptake, confidence, and improved access, including for COVID-19 vaccines.
D ATA S HAR IN G
The COVID-19 Data Portal was launched in April 2020 to centralise and share data
order to accelerate coronavirus research. Thousands of researchers are using the
portal to upload, access and analyse COVID-19 related data.
E U-W I D E C OV I D-19 VACCI N E S T R I A L S N E TWOR K
Finally, the Commission aims to support the establishment of an EU-wide COVID-19
vaccine trials network, with over 30 countries ready to join. The purpose of the
network will be to facilitate Phase II and Phase III vaccine trials in Europe, and
address unresolved public health related questions. This network will function in close
coordination with safety and effectiveness monitoring activities of already authorised
vaccines led by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the European Centre for
Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).
Coronavirus research and innovation
European Commission’s Coronavirus response
#VaccinesWork
#StrongerTogether
#ResearchImpactEU
@EUScienceInnov
© European Union, 2021
Reuse of this document is allowed, provided appropriate credit is given and any changes are indicated (Creative
Commons Attribution 4.0 International license). For any use or reproduction of elements that are not owned by the
EU, permission may need to be sought directly from the respective right holders.
ISBN 978-92-76-29738-3 All images © European Union, unless otherwise stated. © Avatar_023 #143463728, 2017; © Stockgiu #331801817
doi:10.2777/0170 © velimir #317372630, 2020. Source: Stock.Adobe.com. ©eib, EIB Group’s headquarters. Icons © Flaticon – all
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